LEVER WEEKLY: Manchin’s Pipeline Deal Hits The Rocks

This week, Democrats dropped Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) fossil fuel pipeline permitting bill that the corporate media and fossil fuel lobbyists have been trying to pass off as an energy and environmental victory.

As a result, according to a Wednesday report by financial market tracker Seeking Alpha, the valuation of Equitrans Midstream, the corporation behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline at the center of the legislation, took a big hit as its pipeline was downgraded by Bank of America to an underperforming project. This sharp downgrade is raising serious questions about the future of the controversial pipeline project, which was poised to be fast-tracked by the pipeline bill.

For weeks, The Lever has been pushing back on corporate narratives by exposing how the pipeline bill has always been a greenwashed GOP priority that would ruin clean water systems and cause immense environmental damage. Our coverage has pressured Democrats to oppose the bill and now financial markets are putting the future of the Mountain Valley Pipeline into doubt.

The Lever also revealed how every Republican member of Florida’s congressional delegation put the interests of their oil donors above the needs of people on the front lines of the climate crisis. Our reporters uncovered the ties between the fossil fuel industry and a prominent “clean power” group, exposed the absent data behind the Manchin pipeline bill, and spoke to human rights attorney Steven Donziger about how climate activists are fighting back against the fossil industry. Read all about it in this week’s Lever Weekly, exclusively for supporting subscribers below.